When Jon Bernthal's name appears in the credits, in the past you could usually bank on the tone he'd be contributing to the project. These days, you might lose that bet. With his film, Small Engine Repair, described as a comedy drama/thriller, you can see in the trailer Bernthal's character seems to have the softer edges required for the family-focused film. His turn in King Richard, as tennis coach Rick Macci, he portrays a man trying to protect the Williams sisters from the tireless demands from their father to ensure their greatness.

The role was one that Jon Bernthal courted with vigor, even sending in an audition tape to director Reinaldo Marcus Green to plead his case that he was who they were looking for. "It was this meditation on family and fatherhood," says Bernthal. "My kids are the absolute center of my life, and raising them with discipline and responsibility and teaching them kindness and empathy and rigor are all things I take enormously seriously."

Warner Bros. describes the film as, "Based on the true story that will inspire the world, Warner Bros. Pictures' King Richard} follows the journey of Richard Williams, an undeterred father instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, who will end up changing the sport of tennis forever. Two-time Oscar nominee Will Smith (Ali}, The Pursuit of Happyness}, Bad Boys for Life}) stars as Richard, under the direction of Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men}).

"I think there's sort of this confusion now and false representation about what masculinity is and what toughness is. Oftentimes, it's all about being the loudest voice in the room, and that, to me, doesn't necessarily mean tough. I think compassion, intellect, empathy and kindness are also huge staples of masculinity. Rick is every bit as tough, just in a different way. His mask is a mask of joy, and that is an enormously powerful and strong thing."

One skill Bernthal did not have in his toolbox was playing tennis, and he would remedy that. "If you're playing a soldier, you have to know the weapons. If you're a math teacher, you better understand the concepts," Bernthal explains. "I had to learn the vocabulary of the world and get the tennis right." Bernthal took the bull by the horns, learning the terminology and training. It's his new passion. "It's one of the huge privileges of doing this for a living. You get to learn these new skills," he says. "I'd never played before, and now I play all the time. I love it."

We'll be seeing Bernthal taking another step out of the box for Showtime's TV series adaptation of American Gigolo, where he'll play Julian, originally played by Richard Gere in the 1980 film. "When you see me with my giant ears and my big nose, you can tell it's gonna be a little bit different than that. Look, it scares the sh-t out of me - and ultimately that's 100% why I decided to walk towards it."

King Richard stars Will Smith, Aunjanue Ellis (If Beale Street Could Talk, TV's Quantico) plays the girls' mom, Oracene 'Brandi' Williams, Saniyya Sidney (Hidden Figures, Fences) stars as Venus Williams, Demi Singleton (TV's Godfather of Harlem) stars as Serena Williams, with Tony Goldwyn (the Divergent series, TV's Scandal) as coach Paul Cohen and Jon Bernthal (The Many Saints of Newark, Ford v Ferrari) as coach Rick Macci. The ensemble also includes Andy Bean (IT Chapter Two), Kevin Dunn (the Transformers films, HBO's Veep) and Craig Tate (Greyhound).

See King Richard in theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max November 19. This news comes from Variety.